A TEACHER from Crewe miraculously escaped the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami by surfing the killer waves.

Nigel Irvine, 36, of The Dingle, Haslington, was enjoying his second surf Christmas in a row off Sri Lanka's east coast when the disaster struck on Boxing Day.

The former Sandbach School pupil had hit the beach at Weligama Bay shortly before 9am with a fellow enthusiast from Kent.

Moments after complaining about the low swell, the pair were thrown upwards by the massive surge and began paddling back to shore to check on belongings they had left.

But the initial wave was followed by an even bigger peak. Experience told them something was out of the ordinary and the safest place to be was in the water clinging to their boards.

They then watched helplessly as the waves smashed into the beach, destroying huts, uprooting trees and sweeping people away.

Shaken, but without a scratch, they then began paddling furiously out to sea to stop themselves being dragged violently back to shore by the force of the undercurrent.

Speaking yesterday from Heathrow Airport, Nigel, who was in Omagh during the IRA bombing, said: 'When the first wave hit we tried to take off on it but it went under us and it was really fast moving.

'We decided to get the next wave back to the shore. Then we realised we would be better off further out, so we paddled the other way instead. Then we just hung on to our boards. It was their buoyancy which saved our lives.'

Yesterday his relieved parents, Rupert and Gladys Irvine, were eagerly looking forward to their son's arrival home after a nightmarish 10 days for them.

Mr Irvine said: 'I have only spoken to Nigel once briefly but I know he has had an absolutely awful time of it.

'I think he can't quite believe he has survived.'

Mrs Irvine added: 'I cannot describe how I felt when the TV was switched on and we saw Sri Lanka had been hit. It was the biggest relief of my life when Nigel finally managed to get in touch to say he was OK.'

After his amazing escape Nigel will spend some time recuperating before returning to work as an English teacher at a special school in Stoke-on-Trent.